Paul is in the last half of his second missionary voyage. He and Silas started by traveling through the province of Galatia in modern-day Asia Minor where he visited the churches he and Barnabas had planted. He also met his "child in the faith" (1 Timothy 1:2), Timothy, who joined the journey. In Troas, they met Luke, the author of the account of their adventures, and sailed west to Philippi in Macedonia. After Paul and Silas were beaten and imprisoned for a night, they and Timothy went south to Thessalonica where the new church managed to protect them from stronger persecution. The Bereans responded to Paul's message faithfully by investigating the Scriptures on their own, but the Thessalonian Jews arrived to drive the missionaries out. The Bereans sent Paul to Athens, alone (Acts 16:1–17:15).

"After this" refers to Paul's encounter with Greek philosophers in Athens. Epicureans and Stoics found him preaching in the Agora, the Athenian marketplace. They forcibly invited him to the Areopagus so they could hear more clearly what he was teaching. A few of the audience believed. Most of them thought he was a "babbler": a philosopher who picks up bits and pieces of different beliefs in the Agora like a little bird that picks up seeds from the ground. They dismissed him, and he goes to Corinth.

Corinth is a major city west of Athens on the eastern shore of Achaia, the island-like land mass that attaches to southern Greece via an isthmus. It had a population of around 200,000, twenty times more than Athens. It was known for Aphrodite's temple with a thousand prostitutes and, understandably, pervasive sexual license. The city's reputation was so connected to sexual sin that the name "Corinth" was turned into the verb korinthiazomai, which means "to fornicate."

Paul doesn't plan on staying long—he wants to get back to the church in Thessalonica (1 Thessalonians 2:17–18), but though Satan keeps him from Thessalonica, God keeps him in Corinth for a year and a half (Acts 18:9–11). First, he meets Aquila and Priscilla and joins in their tentmaking business while spending Sabbaths in the synagogue showing how Jesus fulfills the prophecies of the Hebrew Scriptures. When Silas and Timothy finally join him, he dedicates more time to teaching (Acts 18:2–5).

In preserved Scripture, we have two letters Paul will later send to the Corinthians. Evidence suggests these are the second and fourth of four he wrote (1 Corinthians 5:9–11; 2 Corinthians 2:1–4). Paul will visit Corinth at least three times, including once after his house-arrest in Rome (2 Timothy 4:20). Paul's extended involvement is due, in large part, to the Corinthians' difficulty in living a life that honors Christ in such a sinful pagan environment. This turns out for our benefit as Paul's letters to the church there teach us about sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 6:19–20), divisions in the church (1 Corinthians 1:10–13), spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12:4–7), and false teachers (2 Corinthians 11:13), among other things.

Acts 18:1–4 sees Paul arriving in Corinth. He has traveled across modern-day Asia Minor and down the eastern coast of Macedonia and Greece. From Athens, he heads west across the isthmus to the large Greek city. There, he will meet Aquila and Priscilla, refugees from Claudius' persecutions in Rome. The couple will be a great support to him, providing him with a means of living until Silas and Timothy reach him. Priscilla and Aquila will also follow Paul to Ephesus and train Apollos, a passionate speaker who only needs to know the story of Jesus to be a great preacher (Acts 18:24–28).

Acts 18 recounts the end of Paul's second missionary journey. He leaves Athens for Corinth, in southern Greece, and works with Priscilla and Aquila as a tentmaker until Silas and Timothy rejoin him. The team stays eighteen months with no significant pressure. Eventually, Paul, Priscilla, and Aquila sail east to Ephesus. Paul leaves a short time later for Judea and Syrian Antioch before returning to Galatia for his third missionary journey. Meanwhile, Priscilla and Aquilla host the church in Ephesus and train a talented speaker named Apollos to be a minister of Christ.

Acts 18 covers the last half of Paul's second missionary journey and the first part of the third. He and his team have traveled down the east coast of Macedonia and Greece to Corinth (Acts 17) where they will spend eighteen months. Paul will stop briefly in Ephesus on their way back to Judea before visiting Jerusalem and Syrian Antioch. From there, Paul will return to Galatia in modern-day Asia Minor before returning to Ephesus for an extended stay (Acts 19). He will revisit the churches in Macedonia and Greece before facing arrest in Jerusalem (Acts 21).

The summary of the book of Acts is provided in Jesus' words in Acts 1:8: ''But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.'' In Acts 2:1–13, the Christ-followers receive the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:14—7:60 describes the rapid growth of the church in Jerusalem. Chapters 8—12 find Jewish persecution inadvertently spreading the gospel throughout Judea and Samaria. And in chapters 13—28, Paul and his companions spread the good news throughout the Roman Empire.

Accessed 11/21/2024 9:46:48 AM

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